Di Maria, Messi’s eternal partner, takes off his sky blue and white skin

July 14 will not be just another Sunday in the life of Ángel Di María. Messi’s eternal companion and the most acclaimed hero of Qatar by Argentines after the Ten, Fideo will have his last concert with the Albiceleste in the final of the 2024 Copa América.

Just as his key goals were celebrated when the national team was competing for a title or was on the ropes, his surprise announcement in November that he was permanently removing the blue and white also had an impact on the hearts of the world champions.

“(…) With a heavy heart and a lump in my throat, I say goodbye to the most beautiful thing that happened to me in my career: wearing it, sweating it and FEELING it with great pride,” Di María announced to the world at the Maracaná temple last November.

That elusive dribbler who emerged from the Rosario Central youth academy was the same one who scored the second goal in the 3-0 win that the Albiceleste gave Italy at Wembley in the Finalissima in mid-2022, a sort of premonition of what was going to happen in Qatar.

And so it was. His crowning goal came in the 2022 World Cup: the 2-0 partial against France, in the 36th minute, in the unforgettable final at the lavish Lusail stadium, when he culminated the best collective play of that World Cup, which in one touch involved Nahuel Molina, Alexis Mac Allister, Messi, Julián Álvarez, Mac Allister again, until it ended on his blessed left foot.

Two months after the 16th anniversary of a match against Paraguay in Buenos Aires in the 2010 World Cup qualifiers, which marked his debut in the senior national team, Di María’s time with the Albiceleste ends on Sunday in Miami in the 2024 Copa América final against Colombia.

No turning back

His announced last concert with the Albiceleste at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami has him sad and melancholic, despite being in a new title fight that could give the team the so-called Triple Crown after winning the 2021 Copa América and the 2022 World Cup.

“I’m not ready for my last match with the national team, but now is the time,” said an emotional Fideo, 36, after reaching the final of the oldest national team tournament in the world, where he will face Colombia.

“A thousand things can happen, but I think that whatever happens on the 14th (in the final), I can leave through the front door. I have done everything to be able to leave through that door,” added the Benfica midfielder.

“I’ve taken home many important trophies, but the people, colleagues and friends I’ve taken home are things that can’t be bought with anything,” Fideo later said on his social media.

“Being in another final, my last game being a final, I honestly only have words of gratitude for this generation of players who gave me the chance to lift so many trophies and today I can say that I am retiring from the national team in a final,” he said.

Scaloni, very cautious, has avoided referring to Sunday’s game as Di María’s last with the national team. On the contrary, he maintains the hope that the Rosario native will reconsider his position.

“I am in favour of letting Di María play and not taking him off. Afterwards we will see if we can convince him to stay or not. In the meantime, he has to enjoy the moment. We will see if we can convince him,” concluded the Albiceleste coach.